We were up at 3.30am for the bone-rattling drive on the back of a tractor up a narrow road to be high up in the Ala Daglar Mountains near the village of Demirkazik. This was awe-inspiring scenery at 3500m. Our aim was to see Caspian Snowcock, and as the sun rose over the mountains, the bird's eerie call resounded from the steep cliffs surrounding us. We eventually saw several snowcocks in flight. A bonus was a distant group of Ibex making their way along a ridge top, their presence given away by the sound of falling rocks.
.Good birds up there included Red-fronted Serin and Crimson-winged Finch. With me (left), our driver (right) and Glenn (snapper) was Basir Safak (centre) whose family has run a small ecotourism business in the area for many years. There is no way to see the snowcock other than to hire the tractor.
There were plenty of Finsch's Wheatears (above), another bird that can be tricky, in the rocky terrain of the mountain slopes.
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